If you would like to propose a residency at Rhizome, please email us!

Fall 2021: Janel Leppin

Rhizome is excited to present a season-long performance residency by Janel Leppin and her group Ensemble Volcanic Ash, featuring: Matt Mitchell / Luke Stewart / Brian Settles / Anthony Pirog / Kim Sator / Sarah Hughes / Larry Fergusen / Janel Leppin.

Saturday October 2, with Karina Lazorchak

Friday October 29

Friday November 26

Monday December 27

More details coming soon!

September 2020: Katie Macyshyn - M(vs+ic)TV

M(vs+ic)TV is an ongoing performative series and wellness ritual. During the residency, part of Rhizome DC will be transformed into an extra-dimensional adolescent bedroom, offering a voyeuristic depiction of an awkward extraterrestrial’s inner world.

Our alien protagonist feels different from her peers and wonders; is she flawed in some way? The project explores isolation, mental health, and self discovery through interactive multimedia programming. Various happenings will take place that activate somatic intelligence and promote (bedroom) culture building. Workshops will include guided meditation, kostume karaoke, chapbook/zinemaking, and a vocal health workshop.

Sensuous textures, colors, and light activate floor to ceiling of the gallery, which will be covered in psychedelic fabric art and paintings. Within the install, viewers will have access to the tween inhabitant’s diary, see what she does when no one is watching, and can become intimately acquainted with her favorite hobbies: picking up vintage transmissions of Earth media and worshiping intergalactic pop diva XXX Stacy.

The project will culminate in a one-womxn musical and poetic performance within the multi-sensory installation that follows the character’s story of rebirth.

At first drawn to the fictional perfection of the TV and radio broadcasts, she finds Earth’s cries for help embedded within the media. She discovers that imperialism and technological egoism destroys attention spans and self-esteem. If only Earth had a hero to rescue the lost parts of our souls and save the humble planet...

Events:
Sunday 9/13 4-5:30PM Socially distanced vocal health meetup in backyard - REGISTER
Sunday 9/13 7-8PM Intergalactic karaoke via Zoom - REGISTER
Wednesday 9/16 6-7:30PM Meditative collage/chapbook workshop/ zine launch - REGISTER
Sunday 9/20 5-6:30PM Final performance via Zoom - participation encouraged - REGISTER

July 2020: Khristian Weeks

Khristian Weeks works primarily with phenomena - sonic, visual, kinetic, and situational - as distinct from the making of objects. His background is in music, first as an instrumentalist and improviser, eventually exploring composition and sound installation. Weeks earned a bachelor's degree from The New England Conservatory of Music in 1995 (and he has a BM to prove it), but not before taking a few years off of this schooling to re-examine his life-trajectory...to live a little. In 1990, he found a job working with infants. Almost immediately he learned that a best practice for tending to a group of very young children is to provide them with a sensory-rich environment; much later on, he realized that he was doing this with his creative work, as well. It was around that time that he began incorporating phenomena and the use of natural forces in the generation and presentation of his work. Additionally, Weeks realized more and more the extent to which the process of generating said work is closely tied to being alone, in solitude. And consequently the consumption of the work prefers a solitary experience...or perhaps the work is simply company. While this for him can be something to live into ever more fully, he considers it a sign of a need to invite a change in approach. Khristian has been looking into generating large(r) group/community projects in his work and has been fortunate to have made connections - finding his way, with much generosity from those already being there, into the creative and usually "experimental" music/art communities in the East Coast cities where he's lived over the years: Boston, Orlando, New York, Durham/Chapel Hill, and Baltimore/DC. And while living in these cities, Weeks performed and presented - and is still performing and presenting - his work in solo and collaborative capacities.

April 2020: Yusuf Misdaq Remote Residency

Yusuf Misdaq was scheduled for a physical residency during this time of physical closure, to consist of daily community listening/feedback sessions on a musical work-in-progress, as well as a series of writing and music production workshops. Here is our online adaptation…..

Creative writing workshop - Saturday April 18 - 2pm - REGISTER
One word summing up Yusuf Misdaq’s teaching in Creativity and Creative Writing could be diversity. He’s recently taught seniors at a new age center in Falls Church, high school students in Gaithersburg, and undergrads at Universities like NYU, GWU, the University of California Irvine, and the University of Brighton (UK). He even taught Creative Writing at an IT conferences in Austin, Texas in May 2019. This list is not given to impress, but rather to emphasize and showcase just how universal the desire and ability of people from all walks of life to express in words that is otherwise often a barely perceptible pulse of emotion, swelling silently in the undercurrents. To this end, Yusuf blends his own studies of ancient spiritual traditions (Sufism, a philosophy and meditation tradition largely developed in his ancestral home of Afghanistan) with his experiences as a writer (author of 3 novels and 7 poetry collections) to enable participants to tap into, and use, the essence of their present moment to generate powerful creative work.

Soundbath Meditation / Album Listening Session - Saturday April 25 - 8pm - RSVP
To culminate the residency, Yusuf will host a listening session / soundbath meditation to share his current works-in-progress with the community.

I was born to Afghan parents in England and I have been traveling all of my life. I became a musician, novelist and poet, and still do all three (at different times). My early music was UK Hip-Hop and was often described by Stylus & WIRED as being ‘DIY’ in spirit because (inspired by Prince) I would create and distribute everything myself and sought no official label. I have written 3 novels and 7 poetry books. I never felt comfortable engaging with the official art world, it never felt real to me, and I soon noted (as I began to receive the right kind of attention for my creativity) that I could be of more use as an inspiration and motivation to others if I continued occupying this unofficial, lay-person artist role. I have taught Creative Writing both privately and in classes at the University of Brighton (UK), New York University Islamic Center, George Washington University at the Marvin Center, and in 2019 at the University of California, Irvine. I also taught a 3-day song-writing workshop at NYC’s famous Music Building. I utilize the rough aesthetic style (a creative choice in much of my music and writing to incorporate as much of the process as possible into the final product) as a means of inspiring others. This is my ultimate goal, to inspire others to create. I believe that creativity and true artistic expression can change the destiny of the world. I am not an activist, I make art. yusufmisdaq.com

November 2019: Thorn Collaborative Performance Residency

Thorn Collaborative (Erin Ethridge and Colleen Marie Foley) questions ideas of shared or composite identity, memory and body. We view these as fundamentally fluid in nature, and strive to incarnate that mutability. We engage both the fictional and the real as equal counterparts, weaving together our actual journeys with story and myth. Taking our relationship as subject and tool, we negotiate separation and intimacy in pursuit of their limits. Our attempts to overcome the obstacles that these poles present are continually frustrated. This struggle highlights a paradox inherent in relationships: distance is a wound that can’t be healed because closeness is never complete, but intimacy threatens the sovereign self. We find pleasure and pain in our separateness and in our union. We began working together as Thorn in 2015 while in graduate school at Alfred University where Erin studied sculpture and Colleen studied electronic arts. Combining our skill sets, we employ sculptural processes such as wax and resin casting, metal work, sewing, and electronic media such as video, animation, and sound.

Stages of Soft is a series of four performances over four days drawing from various types of episodic transformations. Taking cues from insects, alchemists, and ancient mythology, Thorn will posit bodies as sites of transformation and instruments for communication. Each day’s performance will leave traces and artifacts, transforming the space throughout the exhibition. The installation and performances together will be a meditation on softened boundaries of the body, intimacy and distance, and ritual metamorphosis.

June 2019: Claire Rousay Musical Residency

Rhizome is honored to present a week-long musical residency for improvising percussionist Claire Rousay.

Monday June 3 * 8pm * TICKETS
Claire Rousay solo set on cymbals
Tristan Welch ambient soundscape
Cash Sellout communist queer punk

Tuesday June 4 * 8pm * TICKETS
Claire Rousay solo set on drum kit
M.W. Vessel first time improvisation between Chris Sies, Sam Cooper, Chris Mathews, and Corey Thuro
Nava Levenson “Jar Opening”

Wednesday June 5 * 8pm * TICKETS
Claire Rousay/Sarah Hughes/Zack Branch Trio
Leo Suarez+Madam Data Duo
Khristian Weeks/John Dierker/Peter Redgrave

Friday June 7 * 8pm * TICKETS
Claire Rousay / Michael Foster / Jacob Wick - solo, duo, and trio sets

Claire Rousay is a Canadian-American improvisor, drummer, and curator based in San Antonio, Texas. Drawn to improvisation by a desire to free their percussion practice from the constraints of conventional timekeeping, Rousay explores the emotional overlap of rhythm, speed, and texture as both a soloist and participant in creative partnerships that span North America. Drawing liberatory power and ethical commitment from queer theory, Rousay's improvisational style employs a critique of the relationship between masculinity and percussion.

July 2018: EMBODY Vocal Arts Residency with Shodekeh

July 8: The Future of Vocal Percussion - A Voice Lecture, presented by Shodekeh.
When one may imagine how will the human voice manifest as a musical instrument in the next 100 years and beyond, what techniques & traditions might that include? As a professional Beatboxer, I'm passionately asking myself & others...What will the future of vocal percussion look like? Science communication, genre synthesis, musical ambassadorship...in the 30 plus years of being a dedicated practitioner, I've seen this vocal style take on so many dynamic shapes & forms, so join me for a rare & unique voice lecture as I share with you all that I anticipate happening in the future with this very specific, & yet universal vocal technique through the lens of what's happening now right here in the states & around the world: Beatbox Math Notation, Endoscopic & Scientific Research, Tuvan Throat Singing & Vocal Technique Synthesis...not to give it all away, but this will be a musical lecture experience like no other..."

July 15: Concert with Shodekeh and Akua Allrich
July 15th's program will feature jazz vocalist and DC-native Akua Allrich. Akua has proven herself to be a musician of extraordinary talent and crowd-moving passion. With finesse and charisma, this vocalist, composer and teacher has successfully etched out a place for her unique musical expression, electrifying audiences in and around the nation’s capital with sold-out performances.

July 22: Concert with Shodekeh and Shurmila Dhar
This performance features soprano, Shurmila Dhar followed by a presentation on the future of classical voice.

August 21: Concert with Alash, Shodekeh, Orfeia
ALASH are masters of Tuvan throat singing, a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Masters of traditional Tuvan instruments as well as the art of throat singing, Alash are deeply committed to traditional Tuvan music and culture. At the same time, they are fans of western music. Believing that traditional music must constantly evolve, the musicians subtly infuse their songs with western elements, creating their own unique style that is fresh and new, yet true to their Tuvan musical heritage. Opening set by ORFEIA, an all-woman vocal ensemble dedicated to preserving and sharing traditional music from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. Orfeia’s repertoire spans the rich and diverse musical heritage of Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia and their neighbors. From traditional to sacred and from the Middle Ages to modern day, the captivating sounds of the Balkans are given voice through lush harmonies, unique dissonances and vocal ornaments, unusual rhythms, village songs, custom songs with overlapping lines, antiphonal songs with drones, seasonal music, dance music, and children’s songs.

Each Sunday throughout the residency: Beatbox Algebra Workshops
Through instruction, practice & immersive play in "Beatbox Algebra", young students of all age groups will develop exercises to improve & create new pathways to not only Hip Hip Vocal Percussion, but to the necessary subjects of math & music with lead instructor & professional Beatboxer Shodekeh! "Beatbox Algebra" focuses on not just elements of math + music instruction but also incorporates fun & amazing teaching portions of movement & dance, number games & creative musical activities to enhance & reinforce the learning experience for everyone involved! If you love music & any interest at all in math, then this course is just for you & your young ones.

Spring 2018: Artist Mother Studio: It Won't Always Be This Way
Amy Hughes Braden, Tsedaye Makonnen, Mariah Anne Johnson

The Artist Mother Studio is a project to support professional artists with young children by providing studio space, childcare, honoraria, a supportive environment, and an exhibition opportunity. It is funded by a grant from the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities. The three Artist-Mothers are Amy Hughes Braden, Mariah Anne Johnson, and Tsedaye Makonnen.

This project builds off of the work of Csilla Klenynszki and Lenka Clayton, who have ongoing projects rooted in supporting artist-mothers. These artists generously share their experiences and resources to empower women striving to maintain art practices while caring for children. Our residency answers their call to action, by recreating, and expanding the model used specifically in Klenynszki's Mother in Arts residency. We are taking her biggest suggestion and hiring an outside childcare provider to watch our sons.

Beyond the practical needs of artist-mothers that this project will meet, there is a broader conversation about communal work, collaborative building and sharing resources at play here. The art world is not always supportive of families or primary-care-givers. Women and Mothers often land in the role of unpaid laborer, whether it is laboring as a care-giver or laboring as an artist without pay. This makes us uniquely qualified to lead discussions about cooperation, and community, which benefit society as a whole. We are accustomed to not receiving credit for wiping butts, nor are we seeking notoriety for doing the laundry. However we do seek to be heard and have our art entered into the contemporary discourse.

Duration of project: April 1-May 31, 2018
Performances and reception: May 20, 2018
For more information, please contact: amyhughesbraden@gmail.com

Spring 2018: Performance Residency + Installation by Ami Yamasaki

Ami Yamasaki is a vocalist and multimedia artist from Tokyo. Her work is diverse and prolific, creating installations, performances, and films in a variety of settings, most recently as part of the performance “Sounds to Summon the Japanese Gods” at the Japan Society of New York. Solo performances include “Signs of Voices” (2016, Kyoto Art Center, Japan), “Voice, Boundary, Gravity”(2017, Cathy Weis Project),“Experimental Intermedia 2017”(played with Yasunao Tone, curated by Phill Niblock). She has participated in numerous group shows, including “Tokyo Experimental Festival 9” (2014, Tokyo Wonder Site, Japan), “Exchange-planting a seed” (2013, Aomori Contemporary Art center, Japan) and “Sonic City 2013 Liquid Architecture” (2013, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia). She frequently collaborates, working with Keiji Haino, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yasunao Tone. She has lead workshops at The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan, Arts Maebashi, and Sapporo City Kojo School, as well as a variety of television and film appearances, including narration and voice for “MORIBITO Ⅱ” (NHK, 2017) and Hayao Miyazaki’s latest short film (Ghibli, 2017). She presented at TEDx Tokyo in 2016.In 2017 she was an Asian Cultural Council fellow based in New York City. In 2018 she is a residence artist at RhizomeDC in Washington DC and Asian Fellow of Asia Center of Japan Foundation in Phillippines.
http://amingerz.wixsite.com/ami-yamasaki

Performance series
February 2 sitting in with Eugene Chadboune+Sunwatchers
February 25 solo with Shodekeh/Max Bent, Seconds
March 6 solo with Cloning, Radiator Greys, Patrick Cain+Tony Kill
April 25 solo with Lauri Hyvärinen, Nicola Hein

December 2017: Musical Residency with Luke Stewart

If you've been paying attention to the DC music scene at all these last few years then LUKE STEWART needs no introduction. And if you haven't, its about time to take notice.

Starting December 19th Rhizome will be hosting a 5-night musical residency featuring Luke and a rotating assortment of collaborators...a culmination of many years of activity among the greater community of artists, coming together in a completely organic way...

Tuesday, December 19 - Baltimore/DC Collective Ensemble
Dave Ballou - Trumpet
John Dierker - Saxophone
Luke Stewart - Bass
Mike Kuhl - Drums

Wednesday, December 20 -
Luke Stewart, solo
Upright Bass
Electric Bass
Electronics

Thursday, December 21 - Dance Duo
Patricia Nicholson Parker - Dance
Luke Stewart - Bass

Friday, December 22 - "Let's see what happens"
Open improvisation

Saturday, December 23 - Bass/Cello Duo
Janel Leppin - Cello
Luke Stewart - Bass

LUKE STEWART (DC) has emerged as one of the most exciting young bassists on the improvised music scene on the east coast. Based in Washington, DC, he plays regularly in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and has toured in Europe. He has gained considerable exposure playing with the James Brandon Lewis Trio and he also leads or co-leads his own projects including Ancestral Duo with Jamal Moore and Heart of the Ghost with Ian McColm and Jarrett Gilgore. As a solo artist, he has composed a series of improvisational structures for upright bass and amplifier, utilizing the resonant qualities of the instrument to explore new sounds. He has also been integral to the literary jazz group Heroes Are Gang Leaders.

Fall 2017:  Dr Thomas Stanley's Praxis of Resistance

As the organs of power retreat into the protective shell of the security state, radical art at least offers a way to act that doesn’t necessarily require direct confrontation with evasive or masked power. It is, however, a way to act that obviously runs the risk of standing in the way of more radical direct action. What, then, defines the terms of engagement for the deployment of our Creative capacity as a successful means of Resistance?

With Praxis of Resistance, Dr. Thomas Stanley will host a series of duologs and performances with the aim of exposing and consolidating the power of artists as catalysts for deep structural change. Through the discussion and interaction it is hoped that Stanley, his guests and the audiences assembled, will drill into questions like: How can artistic practice be economically sustainable and maintain its integrity as resistance? Where do we aim this thing – is our audience always our “target”? Which institutions are useful? Which institutions are soul-sucking parasites? What, of the work itself? Must it be propaganda to be political – to be active or activism?

Stanley will sit down, talk, and make art with creators who are already friends and allies, men and women for whom there is no need to develop a common vernacular. These conversations should, therefore, start and end on a very high level. Currently scheduled duologs include:

September 20th - Marshall Trammell
October 24th - Michael Verdon
November 18th: Sarmistha Talukdar
January 20th: Luke Stewart
February 9th: Moor Mother

Thomas Stanley received his doctoral degree in music for research on Butch Morris' unique compositional system. In 2004, he launched MIND OVER MATTER MUSIC OVER MIND (MOM²) as an electrophonic improvising ensemble and has since considered his artistic contributions as macrotemporal interventions (rips in the fabric of history). He is the co-author of an oral history of George Clinton and P-Funk (1998, Avon) and in 2014 Wasteland published a book on the teachings of astro-kemetic jazz iconoclast Sun Ra. He is the host of Bushmeat's Jam Session, a weekly excursion into sonic impossibility heard every Thursday on WPFW-FM. He is currently a managing artist in residence at Non Stop Maker Spot in Washington, DC.
http://musicovermind.org/

March 2017: Workshop: Jim Strong in Residence

Rhizome is pleased to welcome Philadelphia visual/sound artist Jim Strong for an exhibition and residency, from March 13 -26th 2017.

WORKSHOP is a multi-room installation of sound sculptures and drawing work produced in conjunction with Rhizome's "Unthings" program, which pairs artists/mentors with Takoma area youths.

On March 19th WORKSHOP will culminate in a cross-genre multimedia performance benefiting Many Languages, One Voice, a community initiative that works to empower Limited and non-English proficient communities.

WORKSHOP Schedule of Events:
March 16 & 23 - regular Unthings working sessions
March 18 - special session of Unthings - open to all youth 8+ (12-3pm)
March 19 - Benefit Performance for Many Languages, One Voice
March 21 - Performance (with Sahba Sizdakhani, & Barbiero/Byrd/Ghaphery)
March 25 - WORKSHOP Closing reception (4-6pm)

* Jim will also be hosting Open Gallery hours, both during shows and at other random times, follow RhizomeDC on Twitter for more details.

Jim Strong is a Philadelphia-based artist/musician. His work weaves experimental instrument building, improvisation, painting, sculpture, dance, curation, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Jim is a member of Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia. http://jimstrongart.blogspot.com/

February 2017: Layne Garrett: We will make it what it will be

February artist-in-residence Layne Garrett will facilitate a 'sculpture-raising'. Think good old-fashioned barn-raising, but less practical. Bring drills, bring food to share if you like, bring friends and family. We'll be outside mostly, so dress for the weather.

Garrett's playable room installation will also be open upstairs all afternoon, fun for the kids. In addition, he will give a brief artist talk/discussion; facilitate a Pauline Oliveros-inspired 'deep listening' activity, and convene a group of improvisers for a performance. Donations for Rhizome appreciated.

Some themes of my residency have been:
*collectivity, as manifested in several smaller building projects with different groups of kids, and then this bigger 'sculpture-raising' project

*improvisation - weekly group sessions open to the community, in addition to daily personal explorations

*value - what is actually valuable? what are our material assets? how might we begin to look at things with different ways of assessing their value, perhaps out of impending necessity?

*and, err... I've been thinking a lot about this hyper-individuated society that runs us all ragged and that is currently teetering on the brink. How to be an artist right now? How to be a person? Right now the vast majority of us out of necessity have most of our needs met by a globalized system that from my perspective is consuming us all even as it ekes out its dying breaths. An alternative could be to build small resilient networks of dependency based on personal trust, but how do we even think about starting to do something like that? These projects are tiny stabs in that direction, an effort to facilitate different kinds of interactions in which the individual is not the raison d'etre, the be-all-and-the-end-all, etc. Experimental sound-based activist sociology? Try it, it's a very lucrative field...

August 2016: Morgan Evans-Weiler: Structures: Glass

‘Structures: Glass’ is the careful exploration of the architecture of glass as a material. The installation uses the resonant properties of six different sized panes of glass to create a sonic and visual environment representative of the structure of the transparent substance. Sonically, the installation explores a limitless combination of textural and pitch possibilities; vibrating sources are subject to an ongoing process of change and excitation. Visually, the sonic substance of the glass becomes transformed into images as an attempt to create an environment out of a material. 

Artist talk Friday August 5 at 8pm. Featuring a performance by Morgan on violin and electronics, joined by Andy Hayleck (Baltimore). The duo will be accompanied by the installation as well.

http://www.me-w.org/2016/06/30/structures-glass/

Morgan Evans-Weiler is a Boston based sound artist, composer, performer, curator and educator whose work includes ensemble and solo compositions, improvisations, sound installations, drawings, concert curation, production and ensemble direction. Exploring the realms of contingency and environment, Evans-Weiler’s works examine the process of change and the inherent creativity that exists as a precondition of our physical and temporal experience. He uses objects, psychoacoustic phenomena, stasis, stillness and our sense of place as compositional material to explore our environmental experience of space and time.

Evans-Weiler maintains a busy performance schedule and has performed throughout the United States. As an ensemble director, he has worked closely with composers Seth Cluett, Sarah Hennies and Mike Bullock and has presented and performed works by John Cage, Anders Dahl, Magnus Granberg, and Jurg Frey. As an improvisor, he has shared the stage with Dave Gross, Bhob Rainey, Dafne Vincent-Sandoval and Andrew Eisenberg among many others. His recent album ‘Violin/Sine’ was called ‘transfixing’ by writer Steve Smith and included in the Boston Globe’s list of ‘Best Local Classical Albums of 2015’

Evans-Weiler produces and curates events throughout Boston and releases CD’s and tapes on his ‘Individual Lines’ imprint.

September 2016: Ben Bennett: Improvised music and sculpture

Artist-in-residence Ben Bennett will lead a series of music improvisation workshops September 1, 5, 6, 7, culminating in a performance with workshop participants on September 8. Open to all who wish to explore sound together with open ears, no preconceptions. $1-5 sliding scale donation for each session. RSVP to info@rhizomedc.org

Schedule:
*Thursday Sept. 1 - Music improvisation workshop
*Friday Sept. 2 - Performance in trio with Luke Stewart and Jamal Moore
*Sunday Sept. 4 - Solo performance
*Monday Sept. 5 - Music improvisation workshop
*Tuesday Sept. 6 - Music improvisation workshop
*Wednesday Sept. 7 - The Critique of the Spectacle in Art History - Lecture/Discussion
Ever since there has been spectacle there have been those critical of it, who believe that it turns audiences into passive consumers who are unable to think for themselves. Plato famously illustrated this position in his Allegory of the Cave. Many artists and movements have sought to explode the spectacle in an attempt to rouse the audience from their somnambulistic trance, transforming them into more active participants in the world. We will look at several examples from art history, spanning from Heironymous Bosch's 1502 painting, The Conjurer, to contemporary art, investigating how as spectacle and media evolve over time, so does the critique and resistance. We'll also critique the critique; analyzing the ideology, tactics, and effectiveness of different works and movements.
*Wednesday Sept. 7 - Music improvisation workshop
*Thursday Sept. 8 - Performance featuring Ben and improv workshop participants.

Ben Bennett is an artist currently residing in Philadelphia. His practice ranges from being a world-class improvising percussionist to filming himself sitting and smiling for four hour intervals on a regular basis. He will be in residency at Rhizome from September 1 - 10.